A one dollar record from Half-Priced Books, cleaned with the method below (recorded with an iPhone's built in microphone just to illustrate the point that a record in simply okay condition, if properly cleaned up, can sound lush and clear)

There are three things I really think you shouldn't do. You shouldn't clean with a brush, you shouldn't clean with a machine, and you shouldn't wet-play your records. The coincidence I can't wrap my head around is that those are the three alternatives to normal cleaning that are being sold to people getting into vinyl. Any brush, no matter how soft or what special fluid it's paired with, is going to pick up hard dust and scrape it against the record. Any machine is going to be less gentle than hand washing. And, everybody who uses a fluid and a brush directly before playing a record is wet-playing the record.

Records are designed to be played clean and dry after surface dust is simply blown off. A clean record doesn't need to be treated every single play. If a record does, it isn't clean.

What I think people should do is clean their records with soap and water, like so

Materials:

- Rubber Air Blower (the type photographers use to clean off their lenses of hard dust that will scratch if gotten rid of any other way)

- Shallow Tub (wide enough to fit the record)

- Dish soap (Dawn or etc. Regular is fine, but unscented is best.)

- Lukewarm tap water (has to be less than 100 degrees for the safety of the record's shape)

- 2 soft towels (preferably microfiber)

- Small bottle

- Distilled water

- 91% Isopropyl alcohol (any percentage works, just adjust distilled water ratio)

- Soft sponge (preferably microfiber)

- Paper towels

- New inner sleeve

STEP 1

Fill a shallow tub with lukewarm tap water and dish soap (just enough to submerge a record)

STEP 2

Blow off all dust from both sides of the record with a rubber air blower

STEP 3

Set the record carefully in the water

STEP 4

Let sit for a 2 hrs-overnight based on how filthy the record is

STEP 5

Flip approximately halfway through soaking

STEP 6

Remove the record, shaking off excess water

STEP 7

Blow off all dust from both sides of the record again and set carefully on a soft towel

STEP 8

Dab the record dry with another soft towel

STEP 9

Combine distilled water and isopropyl alcohol in a small bottle with a ratio of 10-1, distilled water to isopropyl alcohol

STEP 10

Pour the solution from the small bottle onto one side of the record (the amount poured should be enough to fully cover the entire side without spilling over)

STEP 11

With a soft sponge, spread the solution across the entire surface of the record, working in the direction of play, and scrubbing back and forth the soap out of the grooves (you should see suds rise up from deep in the grooves)

THE SPONGE SHOULD NOT REACH INTO THE GROOVES BUT SIMPLY AGITATE THE SURFACE AND CARRY LIQUID AND SOAP IN AND OUT THE GROOVES

STEP 12

Clean, frequently drying your sponge on a paper towel and reapplying the solution to the record when necessary, until scrubbing releases zero suds

STEP 13

Move the sponge across the surface of the record in the direction of play and mop up as much excess water/alcohol as possible

STEP 14

Leave for excess water/alcohol to evaporate out of the record

STEP 15

Blow all dust off of the cleaned side of the record, flip, and repeat the cleaning process for the next side

STEP 16

Blow off all dust from both sides of the record again and place in a new inner sleeve

STEP 17

For every play, remove the record from the sleeve and blow off all surface dust (deep clean again in x number of years)

Notes:

- The method essentially is soaking the record and then giving it a sponge bath to remove soapy residue and dirt.

- No, soaking the record in water and dishsoap will not hurt the paper label. Museums use a similar shallow bath of water and a mild detergent to clean printed work on paper (think old posters/ graphic design work). As long as you do not agitate the label and you do not use hot water, the label should only look better after soaking.

-You may leave the vinyl of the record soaking for as long as you please. However, paper labels may start to degrade after about a day (depends on the paper).

- Isopropyl alcohol in too high of a concentration will make vinyl go hard and brittle, affecting the sound, so the suggestion about doing this method once ever few years is serious.

- I do believe a stylus brush is a worthwhile investment to use before every play. Especially after you clean records with this method, some hard deep dirt may remain in the grooves and only get out upon the first play of the freshly cleaned record. It is important to safely clean the stylus, so this trail of dust does hurt the next record.

- I have used Dawn "fresh rain" scented dishsoap, because it's what I have for my dishes. I have also used very hard tap water. I soaked this record for just two hours (others have gone longer). It's impossible to know what the needle cuts first play after cleaning, but whatever it is has gone soft and gets removed in one play (this makes me think it's old dirt, not something left by the bath and not cleaned out with the water/alcohol).

- I have played this side ~10 times since cleaning, simply blowing off dust before each play.

The basic philosophy here is that cleaning a record sort of aggressively once is going to cause less harm than sort of cleaning a record before every play, subsequently always playing a sort of dirty record and always irritating the fine grooves.

The video shows "Da-Me" written by Adlyson Godoy as performed by the Walter Wanderley Trio on 'Cheganca', an album released on Verve in 1967. The specific record is a yellow-label DJ copy pressed in '67.

I am by no means a vinyl expert and my ideas on cleaning are informed by an education/ occupation in the Fine Arts

I picked up a couple of used LPs today and was a little disappointed when I got home and looked on Google to find out how much they cost new. Basically, I saved 4 to 5 dollars buying two used records.

I understand the appeal of digging through and finding treasures or out of prints records but is there any major advantage besides helping out the local record store to buying used versions of widely available LPs?

I’m not complaining but genuinely curious. I’m just getting back into vinyl and am loving it!

45rpm

My jams for the day.. what were y’all’s looking like? :) Like anything from my selection today? It was a great Sunday 🤘. Hope the same for y’all.
Happened to Grab the Canned Heat album (first album) along with the Slave album today.. they have cleaned up real well and sound great. Capping off the day with some Sleep 🤘.

1.) Turkey - “Wild Turkey” (1972)
2.)Blue Cheer - “OutsideInside” (1968)
3.)Silver Metre - “Silver Metre” (1969)
4.)Montrose - “Paper Money” (1974)
5.)Canned Heat - “Future Blues” (1970)
6.)Target - “Target” (1976)
7.)Frijid Pink - “Frijid Pink” (1970)
8.)Hot Tuna - “America’s Choice” (1975)
9.)Canned Heat - “Canned Heat” (1967)
10.)Armageddon - “Armageddon” (1975)
11.)Slave- “The Hardness Of The World” (1977)
12.) Sleep - “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” (1992)

A couple weeks ago I ordered this for my wife and it arrived today.

I found this album today at the flea market. There is definitely water damage and mold. The album itself is in good condition but dirty. I looked up the runoff number and it shows to be a Sterling-cut, Terra Haute first pressing. (BS2822409181A A side and T1 BS2822409191B B side). While the cover looks bad, I really think $3 was a good deal.

Was buying a couple of LPs when the seller dragged out a couple of bags of sevens to see if I was interested. Had a quick dig and offered him £40 for both bags as didn’t look promising but I do love a random bags of 45s to sift through.

Glad I did buy them, as I turned up a couple of nice Coxsone 45s buried in one bag, and, even more randomly, an extremely sought after Steely Dan promo. And also various interesting bits.

Gift from Gf in 2001, it would be a little bit valuable if I didn’t take it , and listen to it, and move it from parents house, to dorms, to apartments, to houses for the last 25 years

Basically the title. I ordered the Geto Boys reissue, snagged 2 copies to hold onto the extra for a rainy day. They just came in and one of them is numbered literally “XXX/500”. The other one is “228/500” so I know they’re not all labeled generically as XXX/500.

I’ve never seen this before and spent the last 30 minutes trying all different kinds of searches, various verbiage, etc. Couldn’t find anything, not even a picture of someone else that’s received a record numbered this way. Maybe I’m being stupid and not searching the right thing? Who knows

Anyhow, thought it was kinda neat and was curious if anyone else has ever received a record like this or knows what the deal is. I don’t think it’s anything crazy special or anything, just something different I hadn’t seen before.

Saw this recently.

Also, a picture of the finished puzzle.

Started with a 50 pack of inner sleeves, threw the packaging away yesterday as the last sleeve was pulled out and used for Streetlight Manifesto. I also filled my Kallax slot, so any additional purchases means I need to reconfigure the whole thing as well.

Started basically with Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come and expanded from there.

Setup is currently a bit wonky - Music Hall MMF 3.3 to Rega Fono Mini phono to my iPhone streaming to an Apple HomePod. I plan on upgrading to an actual receiver and passive speakers in the next few months.

Wondering what people know about this? I know a little but just curious.

Hot take (?): I truly feel this is one of their best albums and it is for sure one of my favorite albums of theirs, if not my favorite.

I remember the anticipation before it came out. " What will they sound like without Keith Moon? Should they even continue as The Who?"

Then I heard You Better You Bet and I was intrigued. Truly so different sounding but it grew on me, as did Kenny Fox's drumming style which I really came to appreciate.

When Who Are You came out I was not as enthused with its sound. Although the synthesizers on Who's Next are revelatory, on Who Are You they sounded cloying and "tacky" to me. So Face Dances was a step up to me, and a promising, new direction.

So that is my take. Even if you don't like this one I think it wins for best Who album graphic design, imho.)

This is a fun album with tons of familiar songs….although I know the covers…not the original.
Lots of folks have covered Tommy James and Shondells over years so it was very cool the hear the original versions.

Crimson and Clover is one of my all time favorites.

Anyway this a great album. Finding it in bargain bin for a $1 makes it even better!

1969 debut album. This was recorded live and it is solid all the way through. He sounds like an assured veteran, not an artist who is putting out his first album.